#colourism tw

[queer-as-frikc]

so we need to talk about racism / colourism in india:

here’s the song:

at around 0:48 we can hear the lyric

“tujhe dekh ke goriya, Beyonce sharma jayegi”

which basically just means

“by looking at your fair (white) face, Beyonce will be embarrassed”

which is just entirely fucked up because how do you not realise that that is an extremely racist thing to say? How can you write lyrics that use fairness as an adjective to compare against black women? How are we still having this conversation in 2020?

But if you really think about it, the problem is mainly due to the normalisation of words like “gori”, meaning “fair” or “light skinned”, in Bollywood mainstream. Furthermore, if you really look at the numbers, colourism becomes even more apparent. 

The ratio of light-skinned to dark-skinned actors and actresses justifies this. 

oh, and, don’t worry, there’s plenty of brownfacing too.

other examples of racism in india (it’s at the point where they don’t even try to hide it):

these are just some of the many examples of plain colourism we can see in the bollywood industry. And this isn’t just limited to bollywood. It’s prevalent in literally every single part of India.

I live in the most literate state in India, Kerala. Literally 100% of the people are literate and these cases can still be seen in the Mollywood (thats the name in Kerala) industry. And noone is calling it out, which allows it to grow even more. 

That’s the worst part – the fact that we refuse to even recognise it. We call out the smallest racial (or even homophobic–trust me, there’s a lot in india) inequalities in Hollywood but we don’t in Bollywood. Hindi is the 2nd most spoken language in the world. Literally billions of people watch Bollywood and take in what they give out.

We need to think about the future generations, at least. They grow up thinking this is okay, when it’s not. They need to be taught about how people are equal on the inside and outside, and this cannot happen if we refuse to acknowledge what is right in front of us.

this is barely the tip of the iceberg, but please go online and look this up.

here’s something to get started: 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/sumedha_bharpilania/bollywood-is-still-racist?origin=web-hf

[queer-as-frikc]

tagging all my desi mutuals:

@panipurigang

@aadya23

@mango-pickle

@tothestarsndback

y’all are all i can think of rn but tag more!

[secrets-ill-take-to-my-grave]

As an Indian citizen, we don’t claim these people.

We ourselves hate Bollywood and most of the TV shows❤❤

[kashpaymentsonly]

I am also an Indian citizen. Plenty of people in the country are proud of Bollywood and all it does. Just because some people despise the bigotry in Indian cinema and entertainment does not at all mean that the entire population does. If they did, the Indian entertainment industry wouldn’t be as loved as it is now and wouldn’t make as much money making these movies

[queer-as-frikc]

“Just because some people despise the bigotry in Indian cinema and entertainment does not at all mean that the entire population does ” ?? 

can you not see the irony in that sentence?

this is a post calling out the colourism prevalent in indian cinema and it does not touch the subject of the plot or character arcs of the movies. 

The fact that the entire population does not despise or call out the bigotry just proves my point. and as you said, billions of people practically worship the bollywood film industry, which is exactly why it needs to be amended.

Calling yourself an Indian citizen isn’t what makes you one. You need to be willing to lend a hand in correcting the injustices that we can see in literally every part of our country. That’s what being an Indian is about. It’s about helping the country become better. And the first step towards that is recognizing the injustices around us.

[slumbering-lore]

As an Indian, I agree with everything said above. Point out the rascism to someone and watch them go hyper. Tagging my Indian mutuals @callonpeevesie @your-favourite-skittles @imnotrevealingmyname

[peevesiehasasideblog]

@emma-carstairs-herondale

[queer-as-frikc]

so we need to talk about racism / colourism in india:

here’s the song:

at around 0:48 we can hear the lyric

“tujhe dekh ke goriya, Beyonce sharma jayegi”

which basically just means

“by looking at your fair (white) face, Beyonce will be embarrassed”

which is just entirely fucked up because how do you not realise that that is an extremely racist thing to say? How can you write lyrics that use fairness as an adjective to compare against black women? How are we still having this conversation in 2020?

But if you really think about it, the problem is mainly due to the normalisation of words like “gori”, meaning “fair” or “light skinned”, in Bollywood mainstream. Furthermore, if you really look at the numbers, colourism becomes even more apparent. 

The ratio of light-skinned to dark-skinned actors and actresses justifies this. 

oh, and, don’t worry, there’s plenty of brownfacing too.

other examples of racism in india (it’s at the point where they don’t even try to hide it):

these are just some of the many examples of plain colourism we can see in the bollywood industry. And this isn’t just limited to bollywood. It’s prevalent in literally every single part of India.

I live in the most literate state in India, Kerala. Literally 100% of the people are literate and these cases can still be seen in the Mollywood (thats the name in Kerala) industry. And noone is calling it out, which allows it to grow even more. 

That’s the worst part -- the fact that we refuse to even recognise it. We call out the smallest racial (or even homophobic--trust me, there’s a lot in india) inequalities in Hollywood but we don’t in Bollywood. Hindi is the 2nd most spoken language in the world. Literally billions of people watch Bollywood and take in what they give out.

We need to think about the future generations, at least. They grow up thinking this is okay, when it’s not. They need to be taught about how people are equal on the inside and outside, and this cannot happen if we refuse to acknowledge what is right in front of us.

this is barely the tip of the iceberg, but please go online and look this up.

here’s something to get started: 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/sumedha_bharpilania/bollywood-is-still-racist?origin=web-hf

[not-sewell]

just how many times do i have to say @ white people in fandom spaces, that:

it's not your fucking place to say that - what i'm assuming here is - a misstep such as whitewashing a brown-skinned character (regardless of their race) was "not a misstep to begin with" or that it wasn't "a big deal" and that people who did express offence and hurt "are overreacting".

just. shut the fuck up.

white people especially do not get the right to grant forgiveness for such actions because the forgiveness is not theirs to give, in the first place. you are not the target population of an apology meant for ignorant, racist/colourist actions, surprisingly. if you really want to crawl so far up somebody's ass, find other ways, please.

also fellow-POC talking for all other POC in fandom spaces by claiming that "idk, what they're going on about, i didn't find it offensive" with a very 'you needn't apologise at all 🥺'-tone, i've already spoken about why this behaviour is harmful here and here, while my friend @coldshrugs made a lovely post addressing colourism and why it's harmful here. you could give them a read. for perspective.

have a great day. 🌻

[astridyoungyoon-blog]

「 devon seron. ’95 liner. female. she/her. 」 ✧ don’t look now, but i’m pretty sure that’s ruby magpatok (youngyoon). you know, the leader, main vocalist, and lead dancer of astrid. they’re originally from albuera, philippines and have been under marathon entertainment for seven years. they’re known to be meticulous and virtuosic but are often criticized for being timorous and fragile. ( stanned by faith. 18. gmt. she/her. )

what is Up everyone! i’m faith, 18, ur resident immigrant of filipino descent bringing in an idol of southeast asian descent bc u know I Had To. content warnings for talk of colourism, xenophobia, mental illness, and parental abuse bc this girl has been through ... a lot.

ruby was born in albuera, philippines. most people outside the philippines don’t even see that on a world map. they don’t even see most of the bigger cities in leyte on a world map. that’s how obscure albuera is; that’s how rural as hell the places she lived in were. but she was clever, and infinitely curious about things. whenever she’d drop by a more urban city a bus or boat trip away, like whenever she’d visit her father in cebu, she’d use the internet to find stuff out. she was precocious and kinda more involved than she needed to be when her father read up on overseas job opportunities.

he eventually left to work for south korea when she was about... 7 years old maybe? when she turned 11, however, she followed him all the way there. (he picked her up.) he promised her it would be amazing. there was lotte world, which was like disneyland. and ruby was made to feel like she had earned this. she was the smart sibling, the responsible one. she deserved to experience the loveliness of korea, the blossoms in the spring, the affordable delicious meals, the tall buildings lighting up the night. she was a city mouse at heart and she was built for this, not to waste her life and talents in nowhereville, philippines.

so she arrived here. she got into a good international school, yadda yadda. but then....

but then she became aware of what people thought of her complexion. she was dark-skinned even in the philippines, and grappled with colourism too, but in sk there were some people who just... downright had terrible words for her skin colour. they were so casual yet so hurtful.

but then... her father began penalising her for being a child. he would ask her why she was even here if she was just a burden to him. ‘but you told me to follow you here! you told me i’d have a nice life!’ she’d yell. he would threaten to send her home all the time every time she had a minor slip-up (or ya know, acted like a kid). it was difficult; she knew he was mentally ill, and it was tough for him to be an ofw (overseas filipino worker) who lived by himself. and it was tough being reunited with your daughter but realising she isn’t enough to alleviate your loneliness.

but she also knew none of it was an excuse to treat her that way.

ruby was, as i said, very intellectually inquisitive. however, at this point, she was having trouble envisioning her interest in the sciences and whatnot saving her from this horrible life. she had no relatives in south korea; it was just her and her father. so at 16, she decided to audition for marathon entertainment.

it would’ve been plain fun if not for the fact that this audition was gonna be like, a lifeline. she had so much depending on this audition.

she got in because of how ridiculously strong her vocal and dancing abilities were. (her faceclaim has a really pretty voice, but i figured for something like this i needed a really big voice. so her voiceclaim is jessica sanchez (video link here), aka the half-filipino legend who was ROBBED in american idol. do yourself a favour and bless your ears with the song i’ve linked, if you haven’t heard jessica sing before.)

she was pretty good at speaking korean when she auditioned, having been in sk for 5 years already, but she wasn’t the best. her stage name, “youngyoon,” was inspired by a nickname her first love gave her.

until now, ruby has no idea if that guy reciprocated her feelings. but she does know he made her heart flitter and that he always made her feel beautiful. he saw her natural complexion as a beautiful thing and called her 윤 (sunlight) because of it.

the “young” element, she chose for herself, because she loved what it meant (“flower, petal, brave, hero”).

this has gotten sooooo long and i didn’t think it would but... long story short, she didn’t expect to be the leader. i mean, she knew that no matter how pretty (visibly southeast asian features aside, she did fit korean beauty standards rather well; her nose was delicate and stood tall; she had good eyes and elegant facial proportions; she’s petite and a good height at 5′5″) and talented she was, she wouldn’t be a visual or face of the band or anything.

but marathon believed in her enough to make her the leader? oh shit. she suffers from anxiety and lowkey bpd + is neurodivergent so this was uhhhhhh! both a blessing and fuckin hell for her. like there was no way she’d turn it down but also she was like...... *laughs* im fucked

she’s been doing a great job over the past few years but like. she beats herself up. she thinks the group’s lukewarm reception is because of her even though she rationally knows that astrid are floundering for reasons bigger than just her.

just a few details to wrap this up: she’s very fluent in korean now, having lived in sk for more years than she did in the philippines at this point. she speaks four languages tho. and she’s fine being called youngyoon even irl.

please love us up! i can’t wait to plot with you all.

[empirefire]

while we’re brushing on the topic of fandom racism.......... chIoe bennett is not an acceptable beau fc 2k-forever-what-the-fuck-she’s-literally-described-as-dark-skinned-and-brown-in-what-fucking-universe

[not-sewell]

okay, FINE.

let's go with your "but M isn't POC! they're literally Greek! 🙄"-take. OKAY.

but they're also canonically brown-skinned. as are, i am sure, a sizeable number of people in (and from) Greece.

what is it about that being disregarded - M's brown skin being replaced with a much lighter skin tone - that is okay to you champions of the "M isn't POC" tirade? why do you think it isn't colourist behaviour (even if it's done unintentionally)? and if you do recognise that as colourist behaviour, where do you think colourism stems from?

[not-sewell]

hello, i'm here to say that you can be a person of colour and still engage in colourism (while being so unrelentingly defensive about it) and that weaponizing hiding behind the "oh but i'm a POC and you're bullying me" argument does not absolve you of accountability and that i sincerely hope that you learn, thank you ❤️

[dear-indies]

Hi Cat - Can't really find any credible source regarding Katrina Kaif's father being fictional. Lot of it seems to stem from her surname having been Turquotte (her mother's)??? But actors adopting a new name isn't really new. Does that anon have any more sources that aren't fb pages or forum posts? Really want to dig down on this. Cheers!

Hey, anon! I'm getting conflicting messages on this and my two Desi friends always thought she was white but the links we've found so far although all sites appear to be gossip-related sites, one of them pointed out that she did say the following that they're uncomfortable with regardless as they're dark-skinned and Katrina isn't:

An old video of Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif has surfaced on the internet where she is talking about how she never felt a sense of belongingness anywhere in the world, until she came to India. A statement that started off as sounding sweet, but ended up turning very problematic when Katrina credited that ‘sense of belongingness’ to her being ‘dark skinned’ as a child.

If anybody has any other information please let me know!